In a Flash
by Hogwarts-fanatic91
Summary: Flashes of scenes from Lily and James's 7th year. Watch as Lily startes to give up, and realize James isn't so bad. Short& Sweet. Read and Review!


**A/N- This is just a fun little thing I whipped up in my spare time. Don't judge too harshly ;) **

DISCLAIMER- _obviously_ I didn't make up HP, or I wouldn't be on this site, would I? NO! I would be rolling around in mounds of money, enjoying my rich life. Sheesh.

* * *

Lily stood with her mouth gaping open. She didn't expect this at all, in the least bit. _James Potter! _For goodness sakes! The man couldn't even go 5 seconds without reliving an infamous Quidditch moment of his, let alone actually sit down and have a civil conversation. How was Dumbledore expecting them to _work _together this year?

Lily sat back in her chair, and imagined the surprised look on James's face when the badge slipped out of his own letter. That was the only expression Lily liked on James. It showed proof of what Lily was trying to explain to his giggling girl fans: James didn't know _everything. _He wasn't even that suave. Half of those gag jokes him and his friends played weren't even original. Putting bucket on top of a soon to be opened door was so taken by the Parent Trap. What a load of idiots.

Of course, not all of James's friends were jerks. Remus Lupin was a surprisingly quick student, and had a sensitive side that was a pleasant shock compared to his comrades. Like Sirius Black. Black and Potter were tight as society accepted for 16 year old boys to be. Beyond that, eyebrows would be raised. Lily suspected that Black and Potter became such good friends while looking for self help books about loving yourself too much. That was the main thing they had in common, so it made sense.

The fourth member of the squad was Peter Pettigrew. He was the obvious follower, and Lily had absolutely no idea why Sirius and James let him hang around them all the time. Peter wasn't going to well with the ladies, as...well- he looked like a nervous rat, and he wasn't too intelligent, so his friendship with the three other boys didn't make sense. But Lily guessed that even two egotistic bachelors needed some sucking up to once in a while, and Peter served the job perfectly.

Lily sighed, and started rubbing her right temple. Maybe this was a joke. A distasteful joke, but a joke nonetheless. Studying the paper, Lily confirmed it to be a true document of Hogwarts, as it looked like all of her other letters, so it couldn't have been written by someone who would have found this funny. Not that it _was_ funny.

Lily dropped the letter, and walked over to her window. She sat on the sill for a few moments, contemplating her choices. If James was seriously the Head Boy, then she could either deal with it, or drop out. But did she really hate him that much? She had been wanting to be Head Girl ever since, well... she found out there was a Head Girl. It was something her parents could understand.

Gritting her teeth, Lily thought bitterly, _James ruins everything._

* * *

"POTTER! _You ruined everything!"_

Lily stood in the middle of the Heads common room, her eyes almost bulging out of her head. In her hands were sheets of soaked parchment, ink dripping on the carpet and over her fingers. James backed away, his face wary, as if expecting her to attack him.

"Evans... I didn't mean to. I swear. It was an acc.-"

"DON'T SAY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Lily exploded, flinging ink everywhere, "YOU OPENED THE WINDOW, DIDN'T YOU? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WAS DIM ENOUGH TO OPEN A WINDOW WHEN IT'S RAINING!"

"I didn't know your essay was on the sill! Why did you put it there anyway? It's not really..." James stopped when he realized that he was the one who moved it to the sill. He had needed room on the center table to fan out his Marauder's Map.

"_I_ DIDN'TPUT IT ON THE SILL! I DON'T KNOW HOW IT GOT THERE!" She took a deep breath, getting ready to start again, when she saw that James wasn't looking at her anymore. He was shuffling his feet, his head down. She suddenly felt foolish. She couldn't tell why, but her anger was quickly ebbing away.

No! I'm mad at James! He ruined my Potions essay! It took me forever to write!

She cleared her throught, and snapped in an unwillingly calmer tone,

"_Why _was the windows open anyway?"

James looked up, surprised at her sudden change.

"I, er... got an owl. From me mum." He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a box of Chocolate Frogs, "She thinks I need to fatten up."

He rolled his eyes playfully, and tempted a half-grin at Lily. She didn't respond.

"You can have one... here." He dug in, and held one out.

A peace treaty.

NO peace treaties. You must be mad! GET MAD!

She stuck out her hand.

NO! DON'T ACCEPT THE ENEMIES CHOCOLATES!

James's grin spread as she took it, and she muttered, "Thank you. But that still doesn't help my homework problem."

He looked as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll fix it. You know I'm a man of my word Lily."

Lily blinked a few times, and realized that was the first time he had called her Lily.

* * *

"Oh, the red-head over there? You can call her Lily. Now get back against the wall."

James was chaperoning the first-years into a single-file line. The little boy with blonde hair he was just talking to didn't seem to want to obey though.

"Zack! Get back in line now! I have to take a head cou-"

"Lily! Hi Lily!"

Zack was waving his hand energetically in Lily's direction, who was sheparding the back of the corridor. She looked up, and gave a confused jerk of her hand, shooting a glance at James that clearly said: _Who the hell is that?_

James chuckled, and pushed Zack against the wall, who was too busy to care, as he was exclaiming proudly to his friends, "Lily waved at me! She's my friend, you know!"

Once the first-years were in a line, and semi-quiet, James and Lily lead them into the Great Hall. The point of taking a head count was to make sure that all the first-years that were attending were present. They were actually supposed to take roll, but as McGonogall had told James, he had conviently forgotten. Counting was so much faster, and James didn't want to waste a moment of tonight.

As the Heads stepped into the Hall, they were instantly stampeded by the First-years behind them. Lily tried to call order, but they didn't listen. James shook his head.

"Just relax. Let the prats have fun."

"Don't call them _prats." _Lily scoffed, "You were a first year once too, you know."

"Yea, and I was a prat then."

Lily raised her eyebrows, and looked around.

"We did good on decorations."

The Great Hall did indeed look splendid. The event tonight was a well-planned Halloween Ball for the 5th years and below. The decoration committee had golden streamers hanged from the walls and ceiling, and giant sized jack-o-lanterns crowding the corners, while mini ones floated well above their heads. Confetti was sprinkling gently down, and Lily had to blink one out of her eye. The four House tables were against the wall so that a long table with refreshments and dancing space could be available. The house ghosts had particular fun dressing up, and were planning to perform each of their deaths as entertainment sometime around midnight. All in all- it was a foreseen success.

The reason that the 5th years and below had a ball, was because the 6th years and above had something else planned tonight. In Hogsmeade, there was a Halloween party at the courtyard behind a row of shops Lily had never heard of. It was supposedly chaperoned, but Lily could already tell that it wasn't going to be a "teacher-approved" party. James looked excited.

"Common, let's go."

He started to drag her off towards the main doors, but she stopped.

"Er, no. I don't really want to. It doesn't sound like that much fun."

His face fell, and she could feel the disappointment seeping through him. But she wasn't changing her mind.

"James, I really don't feel like getting slipped something in my drink."

"No ones going to slip something in your drink, Lily" He replied, a smile flickering now. Her brows furrowed.

"Don't _laugh_ at me James. I'm serious."

"No your not, your Lily."

She threw up her hands.

"I HATE that joke. And speaking of Sirius, why don't you just go down there and hang out with him. I'm sure he's already got a handful of girls for you both to womanize."

James burst out in laughter, which made Lily even more upset. She turned to stomp away, but James caught her shoulder. He was still grinning.

"Lily- is that really what you think of us? Common, I'm Head Boy. Give me some credit." He wiggled his eyebrows, "And the only girl I'd like to womanize is you."

Lily's face turned bright red, and she quickly pretended to check her watch. But she wasn't really looking at it. She had known that James had a crush on her. Okay- _everybody _knew James had a crush on her. He had been smitten with her since their 3rd year. But now that they were beginning to become friends, Lily liked to forget about it. Although, there was always something that stirred in the bottom of her stomach when James mentioned it to her face.

"So... you coming?"

His face looked hopeful, and he grabbed her hand. He was grinning again. Oh- damn his grin... it made Lily dizzy.

Think straight! You never wanted to go! It's not like you!

She smirked slightly, and let him lead the way out onto the grounds.

You can still turn around Lily! TURN AROUND!

But Lily didn't want to turn around. And as she caught James's eye, she wondered why she had _ever_ wanted to not go.

* * *

"I _never _want to do that again!"

Lily slumped down onto the sofa next to Sirius. Sirius instantly slid over, and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Awwwe. Does inkle-Lilykins need cheering up?"

She shoved him off, and glared daggers.

"Don't _mess _with me Sirius. I'm sore, I'm tired, I'm muddy, and even though I can't feel my right arm I'd gladly smack you up-side the head with it."

James and Remus "Ooooed" in the corner, and Peter gave a chuckle from the fireplace. They were in the Gryffindor common room, accompanied by a dozen or so other Gryffindors, a few of who, were in the same state as Lily. Sirius smirked.

"Common, it wasn't that bad."

"Yes it was. I was one of the worst days to practice Quidditch ever." James replied for Lily, who gave a grateful smile in return. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well, she didn't _have _to come."

Lily looked offended.

"Fine! Then I won't do it again."

James chucked a pillow at Sirius, which wacked him smartly at the noggin.

"Shut-it Padfoot! Lily, we appreciated it. You were great at Chaser. Really superb."

She beamed at him, even though she knew it wasn't true. Remus looked up from a book he was holding, and sighed,

"I don't know why you keep denying it Lily."

Lily's face turned pink, and looked suddenly uncomfortable.

"I DON'T! How many times do I have to tell you?"

James, who if was anybody else would be embarrassed too, shot up in his chair, a silly grin spread across his face. Sirius slid back over next to Lily, and whispered in her ear,

"You know...I can set you two on a da-"

"Get _off_!" Lily protested, shoving him so hard that he bounced off the back cushion. But they were all grinning by now. Peter was anxiously rubbing his hands together, and blurted out,

"Sirius bet this boy in our Potions class 20 Galleons that you'll go out with James by March!"

All the boys turned to stare at Peter incredulously as Lily stood up, and stormed out of the common room. But before she slammed the portrait shut, she heard Sirius yell,

"How could that _possibly _help the situation?"

* * *

"How is that_ possibly _going to help our situation?"

Lily and James were sitting under the Yew Tree on the grounds, a pad of paper and pencil between them. The sun was behind the clouds, and a rain cloud was threatening to break. Lily had a doubtful look on her face as James picked up the paper slip they were writing notes for their NEWTS on and shoved it up his shirt. He grinned, and Lily felt the familiar dizzy-ness.

"It'll keep it dry."

"But now... it's up your _shirt _James! Give it to me."

He raised an eyebrow as Lily reached out.

"You'll have to reach up my shirt."

"I'm not reaching up your shirt..." He shrugged and turned away. She muttered,"Ugh! Your impossible!"

They sat in silence for a few moments as a faint drizzle began to appear. Lily ran her tongue over her teeth in annoyance, and when she glanced at James, she saw he was watching her. His mouth was hanging open slightly.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, she tugged at the notes, which were halfway out of his sweater. He shook his head, and seemed to come back to life.

She squealed as he tried to grab them back, and jumped up, running towards the door to the Entrance Hall. Rain splattered on her sweater, and soaked her curly red hair as she sprinted up the hill. Unfortunately for her, James was a lot faster, and he seemed to think it was necessary to stop her by tackling her full in the back.

She gasped, and dropped the papers into a puddle of water just out of her reach. James groaned, and she felt it vibrate through her whole body.

"Geez Lily, why did you have to do that?"

She turned on her back so she was facing him, and propped up on her elbows.

"I don't know." Her heart was racing at being this close to him. She could almost count the freckles on his nose. "You... er... Why did you tackle me?"

"Because." His breath was warm against her cheek. His eyes were suddenly crazy with desire.

"Well it wasn't...nice." She didn't even know what she was saying. Their noses were touching.

James slowly reached around Lily and pulled her closer, if that was possible. She could feel his body heat radiating off him, and her heart was pounding like she had run a marathon. His hands moved up to her head, and Lily suddenly found their lips connecting. She felt a sudden shock, as if she had just been jump-started by a wire. She paused for a second; momentarily glimpsing all the scenes of them this year, as James's breath heated her lips. Then she kissed him back, and as the rain pounded around them, James pulled her down on top of him.

The note lay forgotten in the puddle a foot away. As well as all of Lily's sensible thoughts.

* * *

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